


You Can Lead a Horse to Water and Drown it There

by Draikinator



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: ASL, Canon Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mute Link, No horses harmed in this fic, PTSD Link, The title is just for the aesthetic, Triggers, a bit of mipha grief, link is a master of horses and its pretty hot, third person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 09:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14422377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draikinator/pseuds/Draikinator
Summary: ‘Forget, forget, forget,’ Link signed rapidly, in a weird, desperate way. Sidon didn't know what he was trying to say. He didn't know what was wrong- and he didn't know how to fix it.“I’m going to get Kodah, don’t move,” he said, standing, near panicked himself.'Forget, forget,’ Link kept signing.Link was gone by the time he came back.





	You Can Lead a Horse to Water and Drown it There

Sidon surfaced from the river and sniffed the air with intrigue- he’d been travelling nearby and caught a whiff of familiar blood in the water that concerned him- it was coming from the bank here, but the trail led up the shore. He was about to climb out and have a look around when he spotted Link downstream, bent over the water and washing his arm, sliced up to the elbow. Sidon smiled, glad to see his friend was okay, and that whatever fight had injured him was already over. A cursory glance showed a trail of discarded bokoblin weaponry down the riverbank, but no bokoblins to speak of. A moment of reprieve for the valiant, ever busy hero.

He opened his mouth to call out a greeting and paused when Link pulled his arm back and stared at the water, silent. Was he hunting a fish?

Link stared at the water below him for a long moment, face blank, and Sidon was about to give up and say something when Link unexpectedly snarled and punched the water with his injured arm. He didn’t withdraw it with a fish.

Link stood and walked away, wiping blood from his arm on the side of his tunic carelessly. Sidon shrunk away, and dove back into the water, disquieted.

 

* * *

 

“No, close, but you must get the angle right on this one, because there's a very similar word that’s… not very nice.’ Sidon repeated the sign with his hands.

Link leaned forward on his folded knees and stared at his hands, twisting his wrist a few experimental times before attempting the sign for “bread” again.

“Much better!” Sidon said, and it was- he was twisting his wrist correctly now. “Why, you’ll be doing waterspeak well enough even old Muzu will want to have a conversation with you, soon.”

Link snorted and smiled. He signed 'Good,’ with unconfident hands, but it was still certainly understandable. He tapped his hand to his chin, 'Thank you,’ but then seemed to think better of it, leaning across the table they were sitting beside to retrieve his notebook, where he quickly scribbled something down and passed it to Sidon.

_Thank you for teaching me waterspeak. It's nice to be able to communicate a little more clearly, especially with you._

Sidone smiled proudly, “It’s no trouble at all my friend! In fact, it’s my absolute pleasure. I enjoy the time we spend together.”

'Me, too,’ Link signed, smiling.

 

* * *

 

“My prince?” Sidon looked up toward the door and the voice that called for him.

“Yes?” He asked.

“Champion Link is in the courtyard. You asked me to let you know if he stopped by.”

Sidon brightened, “Thank you! It’s very important I welcome him myself.”

The guard gave him a somewhat teasing smile that Sidon pointedly ignored, passing him in the hall toward the Domain’s entrance.

He lit up when he turned a corner and saw his friend on the far side of the platform, speaking to a trader. Or at least, he was pointing at things and it looked like he was trading, but it was hard not to notice he was pointedly… not signing.

Link was getting much better- but did he not think so? Maybe he thought he wasn’t very good and was embarrassed to talk to anyone else- or maybe, since he had just gotten here, it hadn't occurred to him he could talk to people here, since nearly every Zora was fluent in waterspeak. He likely didn't use it much outside of the Domain, so maybe it had just slipped his mind?

“Link! My treasured friend, I’m so glad you’ve chosen to join us today!” Sidon called, waving, as he jogged up.

Link turned, smiling as bright as the sun, and when he signed the waterspeak for his name with that smile and Sidon completely forgot what it was he had wanted to ask him.

 

* * *

 

 

Sidon kicked off a rock and scrambled past the sharp river undercurrent and around a jutting stone to where Link was waiting, kneeling sideways against the rock, head pointed upriver, cheeks puffed with breath held. He held his hands in front of his chest, moving slower than they did on the surface.

'Again?’ he signed, grinning and releasing bubbles around his handsome face.

'of course!’ Sidon signed back, waves whipping his fins around his jaw wildly. Link had won this race upriver, aided by a pile of Zora armour, but his soft Hylian body was enough of a handicap that Sidon certainly wasn’t going to call him on it.

Link surfaced to refresh his air, and they took off again, diving around jutting stones and furious octoroks to be the first to the waterfall at the end.

 

* * *

 

“My friend, I know you were so excited to teach me to ride, but, I believe these creatures may be a bit… small, for me,” Sidon said, dubiously eyeing the creature on the other side of the fence. It was large, with four legs that ended in hooves and speckled with rose and cream fur. A pretty creature, to be sure. He had heard of horses, but this was the first time he was seeing one in person.

Link snorted and pulled his hands away from the creature’s snout. 'This one mine. Yours bigger.”

He pulled an apple from his pocket and gave it to the delighted animal before he stepped away from the horse and to the stablemaster waiting patiently in his little booth. Sidon watched in interest as Link waved.

“Oh, hey there, Link, good to see you!” He said, “I left Rosey out for you today since you said you were coming by.”

Link nodded and pointed at her and gave the man a thumbs up, before he stepped forward and pointed at something on the desk in front of the man he was speaking with.

“...You want the big one?” The stablemaster asked dubiously. Link nodded. “Ah… alright, then. He’s out to pasture right now, we don't have a stall big enough for him, so… We’re still working on building one.”

Link held his finger and thumb together in a circle to say “ok!” and trotted back over to Sidon, grinning pointed ear to pointed ear.

‘I catch it last week,’ he signed, 'very big horse. For you!’

Sidon wasn’t altogether certain about this horse thing, but he couldn't refuse that smile. It made his heart ooze and he had no idea how anyone could ever say no to this man.

Link fished around in his bag, before pulling out an apple and holding it up to him. Sidon took it, hesitant, uncertain what he was supposed to do with it.

'Give horse,’ Link signed, and pointed at the apple.

He eyed the apple dubiously. He still wasn't sure a horse could _be_ big enough for him, and he didn't want to hurt the animal.

“Link!” A voice called, “your horse is being- difficult, can you come give me a hand?”

Link looked toward the voice, past a fence and into a grassy pasture behind the stables. A Hylian woman in stablehand gear was waving at him, and she looked winded. Link returned the wave and turned back to Sidon with a devious grin.

'Watch this,’ he signed, then jogged off, hopping the fence in one fluid motion. He crossed the field and met with the stablehand, who said something too quiet for Sidon to hear from far away, but she turned and pointed. Sidon followed her gesture, only to-

Oh, Goddess, that thing was huge.

No, that was definitely big enough for him. Where in Hyrule had Link found such a beast?

Link turned back to him and waved again, and Sidon gave him a big thumbs up and his most encouraging smile. He hoped Link would be okay- that thing was so big it could probably step on him and kill him by total accident.

Link began creeping up to the grazing animal, sneaking through the grass at a crouch. It was incredible how quickly he could switch gears.

When Link was close, only a few lengths away, the massive grey-brown beast raised its head, flaring a shock of orange mane around its ferocious eyes, then bolted, thunderous hooves churning the dirt like water. Link took off after him, breakneck running faster than Sidon knew he could, and he found himself leaning against the fence, cheering.

“You can do it, my friend! No mere horse can outrun you!”

Link was running at an angle, chasing it toward a fence, and it when it got too close, it turned, passing him. Link took the opportunity to grab at it, clambering up it's side like spider and onto it's back. The horse reared up like a mountain and Sidon gasped in horror, certain his little Hylian friend was going to topple off the back and below those horrible hooves. Link snapped backward, but his knees clung to its sides like a vice.

The horse smashed back to the ground and took off again at full speed, with Link leaning forward and rising up, jockeying like this was easy for him. Sidon felt breathless watching him- it was like a performance, and Link was clearly a master performer. The horse bucked and threw itself forward and backward hard, but Link didn't even sway, before, finally, as if it were inevitable, the terrifying creature slowed to a gentle trot, shaking it's head and snorting. Link led it around to the fence where Sidon was waiting.

Goddess. Link was towering over him, sweating. He looked good when he was moist. Sidon’s mouth felt dry. Link smirked and leaned back, crossing his arms and cocking an eyebrow.

“Wow,” Sidon said, before throwing his hands in the air, “that was incredible! I can hardly believe my own eyes!”

Link leaned forward and patted the animal on the shoulder, signing 'Apple!’ with one hand. Sidon suddenly remembered the apple in his hand, and his eyes snapped up to the terrifying maw of the monster horse. Goddess, he hoped it didn't bite.

He held the apple out, uncharacteristically hesitant, and the horse leaned forward toward it. Momentarily an image (a premonition?) floated through his mind where the horse opened its mouth and devoured the apple along with his hand, but it gently took the fruit and chewed in a very pleased way, lowering it's head to the ground.

'He likes you,’ Link signed when Sidon looked back up at him. He seemed to like the apple, but Sidon had his suspicions the horse liked little else. Link pulled some kind of rope apparatus from his side bag and swing a leg over it's side, dropping to the ground. He looped the top around the horse’s head, waited until it had finished eating, and led it along the fence line. Sidon followed on the other side of the fence toward the gate, marvelling at how Link handled this massive creature like it was gentle, delicate, easy.

“Amazing…” Sidon breathed, without even thinking. Link looked up at him, smiling deviously again, like he knew he was. His hands were occupied, holding the horse’s lead, but Sidon was sure he’d be teasing him over how impressed he was if he could.

Sidon waited patiently by the stable, watching Link as he tacked the horse up. He sort of hoped Link might ask him for help with heaving the massive saddle blanket over it's back, but he just skittered up the side of the stable and threw it over.

He led the horse back out into the pasture, and signaled to Sidon to come over, then patted the horse, gesturing for him to get on. Sidon hesitated uncertainly, not completely sure how. Link clearly noticed, because he handed the loop of the horse’s bridle to him and stepped back, whistling.

The cream and pink horse from earlier trotted up excitedly and nuzzled Link with a little horsey noise that made Link smile and rub under her jaw, pressing his face to her forehead. He pulled her ahead so Sidone could see and stepped to her side, before he did a sort of quick hop, put one foot in the little foothold on the saddle, heasing himself up. Link held his hands up, as if to say, 'Ta da!’

Sidon looked at his horse. It didn't have a saddle or those little foot holds. Link slid off the horse’s side again. This time he pulled the horse over to the fence and used the wooden bar as a step to launch himself over it's back. Sidone eyed the short fence, dubious it would hold his weight.

Finally, he unceremoniously crawled on top of the horse like he was trying to scramble over a pillar. It was perhaps the most undignified thing he’d ever done, and he felt his face catch fire when he heard Link’s breathy, nearly silent laugh.

 

* * *

 

“Is he going to be alright?” Sidon asked anxiously. He’d never seen Link so still before- floating gently in a healing pool, he looked drained of colour, a pale flower in a putrid marsh.

“He’ll be fine,” said Kodah, “He just needs a night to recover and sleep. Come back in the morning.”

“Would it be alright if I stayed with him until then?” Sidon asked hesitantly.

“My prince, you need your rest as surely as he does.”

“I assure you, I won’t be getting any rest whether I am here or in my own quarters,” he sighed. Kodah’s eyes softened sympathetically.

“Well.. I suppose if you were watching him, it would free me up to get some other work done. Be sure not to wake him, though,” she said, touching his arm reassuringly. Sidon smiled, relieved.

“Thank you.”

“Come and get me when he wakes,” Kodah said, turning toward the door, “he took a shock arrow to the abdomen, and I’m certain he will want something for the nausea.”

“Of course!” Sidon called as she closed the door. He turned back to Link, floating gently in the water like an unmoored lotus.

He looked so soft like this, loose cotton shirt tugging at his edges and untied hair billowing delicately around a chisel cut jaw criss crossed with old scars that blossomed from themselves like they weren't all a hair’s breadth away from death. Sidon wondered what Link’s chest looked like under his shirt- he had heard the rumours of the final blow that put him in stasis for a century, and he thought that scar was probably less of a blossom and more of an eruption. How much of his skin was still unmarred? None of it?

Sidon settled easelessly into a chair he dragged to a table nearby, leaning on his hand. At some point even his concern was outweighed by his exhaustion, and without noticing, he slipped into darkness.

And woke to the most ungodly screaming he’d ever heard- a frantic broken wheezing that sounded like a cat trapped in an air vent, the pitch breaking and the sound repeatedly cutting out, onto to burst forth again at twice the volume. His head slipped out of his hand and smashed into the table, temporarily disorienting him as he tried to struggle groggily back to his feet.

“Link?” He asked, bewildered.

Link was desperately trying to scramble out of the water like a frenzied, panicked animal, pawing at the smooth wall to the side and not the sloped end that would be easy to emerge from. He kept making that awful noise, and Sidon had far passed unsettled by the time he had scurried over to try and help Link out of the water.

“Are you okay?? What’s wrong, what’s happened? Kodah!” He called, hesitant to grab his friend who he knew was still most likely injured, but also remiss not to try and relieve his distress. While he was hesitating Link grabbed him by the arm and used it as leverage to heave himself out of the water, panting and frantic. As he was coughing and sputtering swallowed water, Sidon noticed the disturbing trail of red churning in the water.

Link was on his hands and knees, still coughing violently and Kodah hadn't burst through the door, so Sidon wasn't sure where she was, or if he should leave and go find her- Link made an even worse noise and then vomited on the floor.

“There’s no reason to panic, my friend!” Sidon said, trying to sound reassuring, “You fell off the cliff when you tried to take on the Lyden at our peak, you were very injured, but our healers have been tending to you- I assure you you are quite safe!”

Link shook his head, eyes scrunched shut, still making an awful, quiet wheezing noise. He snarled through grit teeth and leaned on his left shoulder, drawing his right hand to his mouth, signing ‘water, water’ over and over with a shaking hand.

“What’s wrong with the water?” Sidon asked, confused. He looked back at the pool. It should have been a temperature acceptable to a Hylian and it wasn't very deep, his mouth had never dipped below the surface, and Sidon had been watching before he fell asleep-

‘Forget, forget, forget,’ he signed rapidly, in a weird, desperate way. Sidon didn't know what he was trying to say. He didn't know what was wrong- and he didn't know how to fix it.

“I’m going to get Kodah, don’t move,” he said, standing, near panicked himself.

'Forget, forget,’ Link kept signing.

Link was gone by the time he came back.

 

* * *

 

“What should I say to him, dear sister, should I see him again?” He murmured, “Though I am beginning to fear I may not. Though I cannot fathom what frightened him so, he left in such a frenzy, and I have not seen even a whisper of him in days…”

The statue was silent, an ever present listener with little advice to share. Sidon sighed. What would she have said to him? She had loved this man, and selfishly, Sidon found himself… lingering, on him as well. What an insult to her memory, to her legacy. She would be disgusted by him.

He looked down at the tiled floor beneath the water, glittering the reflection of the pale moonlight back up at him, and the statue’s gentle face, a face he only barely remembered from his youth. No, she wouldn't. She was better than him.

“What would you have done?” He asked her, quietly, “You would have known what to do. You always did.”

“She didn’t, you know,” a voice behind him said softly, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Kodah put a hand on his arm. “She was brilliant, and the most kind and generous woman I ever knew… but she often found herself without direction, as well, my prince.”

Sidon’s eyes softened, “I fear whatever has happened cannot be undone.”

“Nearly all things that have been done can be undone,” Kodah mused, “As long as one still lives, it is not yet over. Linny is a good man- he was then, too.” She looked back up at the statue of Sidon’s sister, her eyes somewhere he could not follow, “I wonder what frightened him so.”

“Do you think…” Sidon started, before he trailed off. Do you think he likes me as much as I like him? Do you think it's okay that I like him the way she did? Do you think I’m a fool? “Do you think he’ll come back?”

“I don’t think he can stay away,” she sighed, then gave him a look he feared was knowing, “He has the eyes of a man alone in a room full of people.”

Sidon looked back up at the statue of his sister and wondered what kind of eyes she had once had.

 

* * *

 

A young Zora scrambled over the railing, followed quickly by a friend. They looked frantic.

“The champion is back!” Called the first, “he’s taking on the Lynel at the peak again!”

“I told you idiots not to go up there anymore!” Laflat cried, furious, but Sidon had already broken into a run to the end of the platform. He dove over the side and into the pool below, dashing to the waterfall and up it without a thought to what the others would think. The last time Link had been here he’d been lucky someone had found him before he had drowned- he should have stopped in first, should have said hello, should have asked for weapons or a rest or help- any help- why wouldn’t he just ask for help-?

Sidon launched himself over the top of the falls and up the next one. He clambered onto the bank at the top, and sure enough- footprints in the mud. Familiar footprints. Hylian footprints.

“Hyah!”

The sound rang out like a bell, snapping Sidon’s head and attention in it's direction at once, a familiar voice, and then a crackle of lightning and a wooden thunk. The Lynel- he was taking on the Lynel.

Again.

He didn't hesitate until he had nearly run straight into the fray, but his sensibilities caught up with him and threw him behind a boulder at the last second, peeking around the side, blood rushing past his ears.

Link was bleeding, but holding his own in close combat. He parried a blow and dove to the side, rolling through the dirt to get behind the monster and slashing quick at it's legs. It looked like it was slowing, but still formidable. Sidon was frozen between desperation to help and the knowledge that his sudden appearance could distract his friend in a moment that could end him- he had no idea what to do.

There was a trail of blood in the dirt, and Sidon wasn't sure how much was the Lynel’s.

Link cried out as he narrowly dodged a massive blow, then did the craziest thing Sidon had ever seen.

He grabbed the Lynel by the mane and hauled himself on to its back.

Sidon watched in complete awe as Link gripped it's sides with his knees as it reared up, a roaring mountain of flesh and death, spinning wildly to try and grab him or throw him off, and when it's front legs smashed into the ground again, link raised his sword over his head, and slammed it through the Lynel’s back two handed. The blade erupted through the front of its chest and it gargled before it burst into mist and magic and Link flailed in the air for a moment, before he tumbled to the ground and rolled a few times, panting.

Sidon felt frozen, a statue of ice and fear, unable to move until Link did. He lay collapsed on the ground, sprawled out like he was just enjoying the sunshine, but smeared red with blood and brown with dirt, and finally, he sighed, loudly, chest heaving, though he made no move to get up.

“Link!” Sidon cried, the spell broken. Link flailed like he’d been struck and snapped to his knees, spinning around to face him, frenzied. Sidon ran forward to meet him and knelt beside him, grabbing his face in his hands. It was smeared with blood and he had a massive slice through his cheek that cut through his nose like clay. Sidon’s stomach flipped and threatened to eject itself.

“Link…” he said, uncertain what else to say. How else could he say it? Link looked aggressively at the ground and away from his eyes, grimacing, but he didn't pull away. His hands stayed in the mud in white knuckled fists.

What was he supposed to say? Where have you been? Why did you run away? Are you okay? Why did you come here? Why didn't you come to me first? What did you expect me to do if you’d come up here and died?

Before he even knew what he was doing he had smashed their lips together, needy and desperate and terrified, and he barely had time to register that Link tasted like blood and a cold winter before he realized what he was doing and snapped himself back, tearing his hands away like he’d been burned.

Link was staring at him, dazzled or shocked or furious, but only for a moment. Sidon didn’t even have time to squeeze out an apology before Link had thrown himself on him, kissing him with the hunger of someone starving, both hands on the side of his face like he was afraid he’d vanish if he let go.

It felt very much like a dream that Sidon feared would end the moment he let himself dare to think it might be real. When Link pulled away it was to lock eyes with him, hands still on his cheeks, mouth still hanging open and face streaked with canyons of tears through the blood and dirt that caked his skin.

“You kissed me,” Sidon said, dumbly. Link nodded, expression still reverant. “Why did you leave?”

Link grimaced like he felt sick, and finally, hesitantly, sat back, and Sidon mourned the warmth of his hands on his face as he pulled them away to speak.

'Before,’ he signed, awkwardly, staring at his own hands like he wasn't sure how to make them say what he wanted them to, 'Wake up in water, forget-” he paused, hands wavering, 'forget friends, forget sword, forget job, forget L-i-n-k. Forget.’ Sidon itched to touch, to comfort, to make the way his face was twitching like a wolf about to snap it's jaws go away, 'Wake up in water, afraid forget again. Run, embarrassed.’

His signs were awkward, rushed, hands dirty and shaking, stumbling through half remembered vocab words, but Sidon understood.

“Embarrassed? Embarrassed by what?”

'You see afraid,’ he sighed, a heavy breath that made him lean forward, hair flowing over his shoulders in a gentle stream.

Sidon bubbled with surprised laughter and tried to feel bad when Link’s face immediately turned red, “You were embarrassed I saw you afraid?” Link nodded, still looking away, “I would never think any less of you, Link. You’re incredible.”

'No, you,’ Link signed, half smiling, half scowling, and Sidon sensed a moment.

“It occurs to me now that I should have told you this before, but when you tamed that massive horse beast you insisted I ride, I found myself thinking that it was most definitely the hottest thing I’d ever seen in my life.”

Link snorted and finally picked his head up to give Sidon the most incredulous look he could muster.

“Truly it was!” Sidon laughed, “You could not lower my opinion of you from amazed were you even to try.”

Link rolled his eyes and wiped dirt off his face with his sleeve, leaning forward.

'I say stupid thing now,’ he signed with a sigh.

“Oh?” Sidon prompted.

'You feel like home.’

Sidon felt his breath catch in his throat, trapped like a caged animal, before he managed to choke out, barely a whisper, “That’s not stupid.”

Link didn't respond, but leaned forward, hesitantly putting one hand back on Sidon's face, eyes silently asking if it were okay to kiss him again. Sidon leaned forward in equally silent answer, pressing their lips together again, less hungrily than before, lingering on the taste and feel of Link, Link, _Link_.


End file.
